IPL 2021: Players who could be playing their last season
IPL 2021 is going to start in a few days. This will be the 13th season of the IPL. There are a few players who may be taking the field for the very last time as far as the IPL is concerned.
All the players that have been mentioned in the coming section have been phenomenal in the game and are some of the finest in the business. But with age not being on their side, IPL 2021 could bring down the curtains on their IPL career.
IPL 2021: Players who might retire after this season's IPL
#1 MS Dhoni:
MS Dhoni, at the age of 39, is going to play his 14th IPL tournament this year. He is the only player to have captained a team in each of the previous 13 seasons of the IPL. He has been with Chennai Super Kings since the inception of the IPL and has captained the side in all the editions the franchise has been part of.
IPL 2021 could also be his last because he had already announced his retirement from international cricket last year. Going by his age and recent form, it seems he may be thinking of ending it on a high by winning the IPL trophy for the 4th time.
MS Dhoni has played 204 matches, scoring 4632 runs at a decent average of 41 and with a strike rate of 136.8. He has 23 fifties to his name. As far as wicketkeeping is concerned, MS Dhoni has taken 113 catches along with 39 stumping and 21 run-outs.
#2 Chris Gayle:
Chris Gayle, who is 41 years old, is going to be part of yet another IPL season and fans will be expecting the Gayle-storm to blow away IPL 2021. This will probably be his last IPL season.
Gayle has enjoyed great success and will be hoping to make this season his own with his blistering knocks. He will be a part of the Punjab Kings in IPL 2021. In IPL 2020, Gayle played only 7 innings and scored 288 runs, which consisted of three fifties.
He batted at a strike rate of 137+, with an average of 41.14. His highest score was 99 runs. He smashed 23 maximums in only 7 games that he got to play.
As far as his IPL records are concerned, Chris Gayle has played 132 matches. He has scored 4772 runs at an average of 41.14 with a blistering strike rate of 150.11. He has 6 centuries to his name to go along with 31 half-centuries.
#3 Imran Tahir:
Probably the oldest player in IPL 2021, 42-year-old Imran Tahir is going to be a part of the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2021. What sets him apart from the other players is his zeal to play cricket and excel irrespective of the team and the format that he plays.
His trademark celebratory sprint after taking a wicket shows his passion for the game of cricket and is enough to bring a smile to the face of anyone watching him.
In the IPL, Tahir has played a total of 58 matches, picking up 80 wickets at an outstanding average of 21.09. He also has a decent economy rate of 7.83. He was the purple cap holder in IPL 2019, bagging 26 wickets that season.
He has been with the Chennai Super Kings since IPL 2018, and is expected to play a crucial role for the franchise in IPL 2021 before calling it a day.
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#4 Harbhajan Singh:
One of the best spinners the game has ever produced, IPL 2021 could be the last for 40-year-old Harbhajan Singh. He has won the IPL trophy 4 times - three times with Mumbai Indians in 2013, 2015, 2017 and once with Chennai Super Kings in 2018.
Harbhajan has tasted great success in the IPL. He is the 5th highest wicket-taker in the IPL across all seasons, with 150 scalps to his name at an economy rate of 7.05. Until last season, Harbhajan Singh was with the Chennai Super Kings, though he backed out before the season started citing personal reasons.
Harbhajan was released by CSK earlier this year, and he was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders at his base price of ₹2 crores at the IPL 2021 auction. He will be hoping to end his IPL career on a high by winning his 5th IPL trophy with the Kolkata Knight Riders.